OneNote for Windows is now free

I can't say enough about how I enjoy OneNote. It's an incredibly well thought out app, that serves as a digital notebook, that you can put to use for just about any task where traditionally you will use paper and pen, either on your own, or cooperatively with anyone you wish. If you rely on little bits of paper that you are always losing, have a look at OneNote, it's probably the best end user app Microsoft has ever developed. Plus, it's now available on Windows, Windows 8, Windows Phone, Android, iOS and even MacOs.

I use OneNote on a daily basis, and tried out the Office Lens for Windows Phones yesterday. IMHO it is so - so. Not quite powerful enough, and no pdf. Think I'll stay with Handy Scan for now. I've been using OneNote MX for the most part, and had forgotten about the clipper..... Need to get reacquainted....

Thanks John
Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at. (Murphy's War Laws #39)

As someone who uses both Macs and Windows computers, this is good news and shows MSFT is perhaps changing for the better under the new leadership. The downside for them is that they are very late to this market, as Evernote is the leader, along with even Apple (if you use an iPhone for instance, you are likely using some notekeeping apps on it besides Evernote). It's not to say they can't overtake Evernote, I think Onenote is quite a bit better than Evernote, but it's an uphill climb. Keeping it free for the foreseeable future is a good way to gain this traction. I for one, am moving back to it after leaving it because of it's lame Mac support.

According to the "Get premium OneNote features and more with Office 365" paragraph at Microsoft OneNote the version of OneNote with an Office SKU (the pages says Office 365 Home Premium) is required to save a notebook to an HD.

Are you sure the use of a One Drive is mandatory? I haven't use the free version, but the regular version does not need OneDrive (although it may be useful to use it).

I suggest you download the app and try it.

P.S.: Ok, I just read confirmation that the free version will only save the notebooks to OneDrive, so the previous impression by Texas T is right. A guy from the OneNote team at Microsoft justified that as being the only way to allow access to Notes from all devices and notes sharing. It does make some sense, I suppose.

Thanks for the tip and for the comments about online saving. Evidently, you can back up your Onedrive account offline, but this wouldn't suit my needs. I have long habits of document management that are not well suited to being software-managed.

Your choice is, of course, totally yours to make. We all have reasons to choose what we choose and that's how things should be.

In total respect of your choice, I cannot avoid stating that OneNote and Notepad++ (which I use infrequently) are totally different apps. I use Notepad++ as a free editor, when I need one. It cannot replace OneNote for what I use it - which is really as very flexible digital notebook. Notepad++, being good at what it does, is not meant to replace OneNote.

Ok, I just read confirmation that the free version will only save the notebooks to OneDrive, [snip]. A guy from the OneNote team at Microsoft justified that as being the only way to allow access to Notes from all devices and notes sharing. It does make some sense, I suppose.

That makes sense for those who want to sync across devices, but they should make it clear that this "free" version cannot be used as a stand-alone program on just one device --specifically a desktop or laptop.

(By the way, and for what it's worth, I don't consider any offering "free" if it requires you to sign up for something --even if it's at no monetary cost-- or give your email address to get it.)

@DavidFB: What I've been using is a personal wiki called WikidPad. A nice feature is that it lets you embed links to files on your hard drive or the Internet.

When I used an iMac, I liked Circus Ponies Notebook, although it was a bit buggy at the time.